11-month-old so temperamental!

[Jenoir]

My 11-month-old son can be very happy, smiley and has a great laugh, but at the moment he seems to cry at everything and is endlessly frustrated. He isn't moving yet which is probably part of the problem, but he screams when we change his nappy - something he used to enjoy - and he cries loads when he's taken away from something that he had enjoyed playing with. He just seems unsatisfied with anything for longer than a couple of minutes, and when he gets upset he gets really upset. Is this common at this age or do you think there's something I'm doing wrong, or could improve to help his temper?! At this age I don't know if I need to instill some discipline and let him cry, or whether I should be placating him the whole time. Any advice would be great!

This does sound normal to me.

Try to look at it from his point of view - you take him away from something fun, he can't stop you, he is going to cry.

It is frustration that teaches kids to get up and reach for the thing they cant get and 11 month olds normally have short attention spans.

All of my kids have gone through a phase of screaming and usually crocodile rolling when I interrupt their play to change nappies.

I wouldn't use distraction/placate him all the time, it would depend on the circumstances, sometimes I would let him get over it by himself. He is angry and from his point of view has a right to be. At some point he needs to learn to deal with that anger without screaming, throwing things or lashing out. My 20 mnth old still chucks his cup on the floor with a mutinous expression and has a strop, but things do gradually improve.

Don't forget he will understand more than he can communicate for a long time yet he can't move about as yet, that is frustrating, he is learning about lots of things that he can't control yet.

Don't stress, its a phase,...

Agree with Kitkatqueen, but I would probably placate him within reason. All totally normal behaviour at this age. It might get worse before it's gets better especially as he nears toddlerhood.

With the nappies, have you tried changing him standing up? Or using pull ups? This worked with my DS to a certain extent and now at 18mths he is back to being fairly chilled about having his nappy changed lying down, unless he has company!